The election must be about more than Brexit and politicians should tell us how they plan to make up for a “lost decade” of economic growth, a leading economist has warned.

Jagjit Chadha, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, is alarmed by low wage growth, lack of infrastructure investment and the weakness of the economy in areas outside London and the southeast.

Top concerns include:

Deterioration in productivity;

Poor real wage growth;

Rising perceptions of wealth inequality;

Lack of infrastructure and R&D spending.

Professor Chadha argues that these are “major problems” that are “well understood” and “predate the issues raised by the decision to leave the European Union”.

His research comes on the heels of findings from the Office for National Statistics which show that Welsh productivity was “19% below the UK average”.

Wales had the worst Labour productivity of any UK region

Every region of Wales has lower productivity than the UK average (Image: ONS)

Prof Chadha said “large and persistent inequalities in productivity across UK regions have become a key issue”.

The ONS stated in its analysis of Welsh productivity: “Monmouthshire and Newport, Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot and Flintshire and Wrexham all displayed levels of productivity around 12% to 14% below the UK average. The lowest performance was the rural subregion of Powys, with a level 35% below the UK average, the lowest level in the UK.”

London is by far the most productive part of the UK

The best and worst performers for productivity in the UK

Prof Chadha has particular concerns about wages

NIESR Director Jagjit Chadha

He warns that “nearly ten years on from the start of the economic crisis in 2007-8” it is clear that “income per head has not recovered especially well”.

Income per head only passed the 2007 level in 2015.

He said: “In comparison to the recovery from previous post war recessions, there has been very disappointing growth in the overall level of income since 2007-8.”

The professor is also troubled by “the risk in the household balance sheet from the emphasis on housing as a store of wealth”.

Arguing that politicians should be under pressure to offer solutions to these challenges, he said: “The conventional wisdom is that this election is about the UK’s decision to leave the EU and this is clearly a critical question. But we may, once again, be in danger of letting the urgent drive out the important.

“Political parties should not shy away from facing the question of Britain’s underlying economic weakness and should be called upon to offer solutions that address the lost decade of economic growth the country has endured”.

Here's how a leading Welsh Conservative responded:

David Davies has been the Conservative MP for Monmouth

David Davies, who is fighting to win re-election as the Conservative MP for Monmouth, said: “NIESR are quite right. This shouldn’t be about Brexit.

“We’ve already taken a decision on that. The decision on that was taken by the British people last year.

“I think we should be talking about the continuing challenge of bringing down the deficit. We’ve already made huge progress and the Conservatives are committed to delivering high quality public services without borrowing ever increasing amounts of money.

“We should also be talking about the NHS and education. Labour has said they want to talk about these issues and I really welcome that and I want to challenge them as to why waiting lists are longer in Wales and why children have less chance of coming with good GCSEs and A-Levels than they do in England.

“Let’s by all means agree that Brexit is gonna happen and start talking about the other important issues.”

Here’s Plaid Cymru’s take:

Plaid Cymru Carmarthen East and Dinefwr incumbent candidate Jonathan Edwards said: “This is a damning verdict on Westminster’s so-called ‘long-term economic plan’, and exposes the impacts of continued neglect by successive Westminster governments investing exclusively in London and the south east of England.

“People across Wales are suffering with lower wages and a higher cost of living because of Westminster’s obsession with London. Wales cannot grow its own economy with both its arms tied behind its back.

“The Tories have been allowed to portray themselves as economically competent because of the sheer incompetence of the Labour party in opposition.”